As we talked about over the summer, the Romney campaign made an interesting concession several months ago. As the Republicans saw it, they could use Bill Clinton to their advantage, trying to point to imaginary differences between him and President Obama, in the hopes of making Obama seem less moderate.
The move, Romney's advisors said, was "devised as a trick to drive a wedge."
The trick didn't work, but it had an effect, anyway -- Republicans raised the former president's stature, credibility, and reliability. It's a development the Obama campaign is happy to exploit.
In this spot, the former president speaks directly to the camera, saying, "The stuff some folks are saying about President Obama sounds kind of familiar. The same people said my ideas would destroy jobs and they called me every name in the book. Well, we created 22 million jobs and turned deficits into surpluses. President Obama's got it right. We should invest in the middle class, education and innovation, and pay down our debt with spending restraint and asking the wealthy to pay a little more. Sound familiar?"
Team Romney helped build up Clinton's credibility. Now they're paying the price.